I would like to ask the colleagues from the design institute
Thread Content
How long after graduation does one start working on the first project? How long does it take to become familiar with the overall approach to design, that is, to reach a level of proficiency? How much time is required? What are the core departments in a design firm? Where else can an restless person go after leaving the design institute?
1. After graduating and starting work, I immediately got involved in equipment design; I had a few days free, about 1 week I guess； 2. If it involves artistic design, with an average level of intelligence and effort, it generally takes about 8 years to reach the proficiency you mentioned ； If it’s piping design, about 1 year is sufficient ； 3. The core departments of a design institute are the main technical departments; of course, support departments such as civil engineering and instrumentation are also crucial – it just depends on how you view things ； 4. If you have the capability, you can establish your own design institute. No experience yet.
Those who can’t stay still can go to an engineering company! There is more room for improvement! Those who are content can also go to engineering companies and continue working in design
Plumbing and piping engineering*, as well as civil engineering, electrical work, water supply and drainage, and general layout design. It takes about half a year just for the piping work, but it takes at least 5 years to understand the manufacturing process. After leaving the design institute, one can work in engineering; it’s easy to get started.
For a chemical engineering design institute, the core discipline is undoubtedly process engineering; followed by equipment, structure, electrical and instrumentation systems, and civil engineering； As for getting started, there’s a saying in the field of design: it takes five years to get the basics down, and another ten years to achieve some level of proficiency. Just keep persevering. Additionally, claims such as it taking 8 years to master craftsmanship or 1 year for piping work are extreme and not credible! Remember this: those who don’t understand piping techniques can’t do piping work, and those who don’t understand piping work can’t handle the technical aspects properly!
Everyone thinks piping is easy to handle, but every time I see the piping done by newcomers, I’m really worried – it’s a group of people who have high expectations but lack practical skills. Leaving aesthetics aside for now, at the very least the pipes used should meet the technical requirements; that’s the minimum standard. Just dragging the mouse to add fittings and draw pipes isn’t what proper piping entails.
Many design institutes in China specialize in process engineering. If you ask them what’s going on in a particular situation, all they can say is that it’s drawn that way in the foreign process manuals. Damn it, if they can’t even understand the processes used abroad, how can they be expected to develop new processes? Save it; at most it can serve as a translation tool. If one can grasp the meaning beyond that, that would be great.
Once graduated, one can start working on projects; as for actually getting hands-on with them, experience is needed to build that skill
1. We took on our first project within half a year of graduating. 2. It took us over 3 years to become proficient in design work； If you are to take charge of a specialty and become fully proficient in it, it takes 5 to 10 years; this varies depending on the specialty! 3. In our design institute, it’s a corporate entity; of course, the core department is the leadership team ； In the production department, process management comes first. Regarding this issue, different specialties lead to different career paths: many people end up working in foreign companies or taking on project-based work!
What are the educational requirements? Is an ordinary undergraduate degree sufficient?
Over 2 years, I worked on a complete hydrocracking unit and one residue hydrogenation facility. I roughly understand the basic process, but there are still many issues... It’s a bit unfortunate that I haven’t been to the site. Design institutes are not only involved in design but also handle engineering tasks; otherwise, it wouldn’t work. As for the process packages, if you have specialized skills or patents, you can handle them on your own, but the payment won’t be much. It seems that clients prefer to use foreign services as well. With so many projects, it’s necessary to rely on others’ services otherwise there won’t be enough manpower